Protective steel housing for locks



Ms'sl'KoTLER PROTECTIVE STEEL HOUSING FOR LOCKS April 28, 1.970

Filed July 25, 1968 zo ml 29` +4 all FIGZ FIG. I

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INVENTOR. MAX S. `KOI'LER y/43u74@ ATTORNEY.

United States Patent O 3,508,504 PROTECTIVE STEEL HOUSING FOR LOCKS Max S. Kotler, 17001 NE. 13th Ave., North Miami Beach, Fla. 33162 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 657,853, Aug. 2, 1967. This application July 25, 1968, Ser.

Int. ci. Eosg 1/04 U.S. Cl. 109-59 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A protective steel locking housing, which is securely held in an overlying relation with the back side of the door of a safe deposit 'box to encase the conventional cast or malleable metal lock box to discourage burglaries of safe deposit boxes.

This application is a continuation in part of my eopending application entitled Safety Deposit Box Protector, led Aug. 2, 1967, Ser. No. 657,853 and pertains to a protective means to incease the security of safe depoSit boxes.

This invention relates to a lock structure, particularly to a lock protection plate, for use with safe deposit boxes.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a steel protective housing to encase the conventional cast metal or malleable lock box on the interior of a safe deposit box door, said steel housing being securely interlocked with the steel door itself to provide the maximum security against burglary.

Another object is to provide a protective steel armour reinforcing lbacking member for a conventional cast metal or malleable safe deposit lock box body to prevent the opening of the safe deposit box door by punching the lock barrels inwardly to rupture sai lock box body.

A further object is to mount a steel reinforcing backing member in a position where it is invisible from the outside of the Safe deposit box when the box door is closed.

A still further object of this invention is the provision of means, such as a cut out portion of the steel reinforcing plate, adjacent the bolt end of the lock box, which cut out portion is slightly wider than the bolt to permit a locksmith to have access to the bolt by drilling through the door to tap the lock with a special tool to open the safe deposit box in the event that the user looses his key.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and accompanying drawings in which like numerals designate like parts throughout the various views, wherein;

FIGURE l is an elevational front view of a safe deposit box lock disclosing the structural details of this invention, shown mounted on the box door;

FIGURE 2 is an elevational rear view of the safe deposit lock shown in FIGURE l;

FIGURE 3 is a horizontal cross sectional view taken on line 3 3 of FIGURE 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 4 is a vertical cross sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIGURE l; and

FIGURE 5 is a horizontal cross sectional view similar to FIGURE 3, illustrating the bending of a malleable lock bar; and

FIGURE 6 is a vertical sectional view similar to FIG- URE 4, illustrating a modified form of the invention.

The safe deposit lock structure. of this invention is indicated generally by the numeral 10. This structure comprises a door 11, hung on hinges 12, and includes a cast "ice metal box lock 13, having a horizontally extending lock cylinder 14, and a second similar lock cylinder 15 which protrude forwardly through door 11 yas clearly shown in FIGURES 1 and 3, all lock structure being mounted on the door 11. A laterally slidable bolt 16 of conventional type and operable by the cylinder lock mechanism in any well known manner is provided.

Such box locks 10 are conventional and may be made of cast white metal such as zinc aluminum alloy, for example. This metal may be easily broken during a burglary by knocking or punching the cast metal box locks 10 01T.

A large number of such locks 10, forty or fifty for example, can be quickly knocked or broken off in fteen to twenty minutes.

The present invention provides a protective steel armour housing 20, which is shaped to receive and encase the cast or malleable metal box lock 13. As best illustrated in FIGURES 3, 4 and 5 the box lock 13 is mounted in a longitudinal recess 21, in the rear face of the door 11, the recess stopping short of the bolt end of the door as indicated at 22. The steel armour housing 20 is comprised of a backing plate portion 23, an end wall 24 opposite the bolt end of the lock box, and parallel longitudinal side walls 25 and 26, as best illustrated in FIG- URES 3 and 4 the end wall 24 and side walls 25 and 26 extend inwardly from the backing plate portion 23 at substantially right angles thereto. A pair of parallel foot portions 27 and 28 extend outwardly from and along the inner edge of each of the side wall portions 25 and 26 of the armour plate 20 and are engaged in mating slots 29 and 30 along the bottom of the side walls 31 and 32 of the longitudinal recess 21 in the door 11.

As best illustrated in FIGURES l, 2 and 3, the recess 21 extends to the inner hinge end 33 of the door 11 and in assembly, the lock box 13 is rst inserted in position with the lock barrel extending through appropriate holes in the door 11 in the conventional manner. Next the parallel foot portions 27 and 28 of the armour housing 20 are inserted in their mating slots 29 and 30 starting at the hinge end of the door and the armour housing 20 is then slid inwardly to the position illustrated, encasing the lock box 13. The hinge member 12 is then xed in place by means of screws 34, closing the end of recess 21. Screws 34 passing through the armour plate 20 and the lock box 13 are threaded into the safe deposit door 11 to hold the armour plate 20 in its proper position but it is to be noted that any forces imparted to the lock barrels are transmitted entirely to the armour plate 20 and the slots 29 and 30 in the steel door and not to the screws 35.

The provision of a cut-away portion 36, formed in the backing protective steel member 20, adjacent the outer end of bolt 16, affords access to said bolt by an authorized person, such as a lock'smith, and in the event that the box user has lost his key, permitting him to open a specic lock by drilling and tapping said lock with a special tool or using any other desirable method, FIG- URE 5.

Thus it is readily seen that the invention herein disclosed provides a dual function, protection against burglaries of safe deposit boxes by forceable entry, and access to a particular box by a locksmith who, with his special knowledge, could unlock the box if necessary.

FIGURE 6 illustrates a modied form of the invention in which dovetail slots 37 and 38 are provided in the inner face of the door instead of the mating slots 29 and 30, the armour plate 20 and method of assembly, however, are the same.

Obviously other forms of locks than thatr illustrated with either one or two lock cylinders may be used with the protective armour plate of the present invention and the armour plate is also applicable to other forms of boxes, which utilize this type of -lock mechanism.

This description, specification, and drawings discloses one particular embodiment of the present invention.

I claim:

1. A protective steel armour housing to be used in combination with a conventional lock mechanism mounted on the inside face of the steel door of a safe deposit box, the lock mechanism including a metal housing, a movable lock bolt, a lock barrel and a keeper, the lock barrel extending through the steel door to the outside thereof to be operated by a key in the conventional manner; said steel door having a lock bolt end and an opposed hinge end and including, a longitudinal recess in its inside face, extending through said hinge end, having a bottom andfopposed side walls and terminating in a substantially vertical wall adjacent said lock bolt end, the metal housing being positioned in said recess in abutment with said vertical wall, and undercut slots extending longitudinally of the length of the respective opposed side walls of said recess; said protective steel housing including opposed foot portions complementary to said undercut slots and slidably receivable therein from said hinge end to permit said protective steel housing to -be moved into a protective encasement 2. A protective steel housing as set forth in claim 1 in 30 which said metal housing is protectively encased on four 4 sides and the hinge end by the steel armour housing and the Vbottom wall of said recess, the lock bolt end remaining open.

3. A protective steel housing as set forth in claim 1 in which said retaining means comprises a plurality of screws passing through said protective steel housing and metal housing and being threaded into said bottom wall of said recess to hold both of said housings against longitudinal displacement towards said hinge end of the steel door.

4. A protective steel armour housing as in claim 1 in which said lock mechanism includes two lock barrels extending through said steel door from said metal housing of the lock mechanism to the outside thereof to be operated by two keys in the conventional manner.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,387,818 8/1921 Wege 109-59 1,463,182 7/1923 Voss 109-59 1,854,839 4/1932 Hermann 109-59 FOREIGN PATENTS 107,824 11/1927 Austria.

RICHARD E. MOORE, Primary Examiner E. I. MCCARTHY, Assistant Examiner U.S. C1. X.R. 

